A devastated family had to carry the remains of their ‘beloved’ pony from a fire as he was burnt alive after his stable block in Marple was deliberately set alight.
The horse-loving family’s ‘world came crashing down’ when they realised the stables on Winnington Road were on fire and Ruben – a seven-year-old Welsh Section A, who sadly died – was inside.
They called police and fire crews shortly before 2am on Tuesday July 14, who said they are treating this ‘tragic case’ as a ‘deliberate’ and ‘callous’ act of arson.
Kerry Pardon, the owner of the stable block, said: “I have spent my life around horses and never have I had to carry out such a disturbing act as I did last night, when we had to personally remove the remains of our beloved Ruben from what was left of the fire.
“This is something that will haunt me forever.”
By ‘pure chance’ the Pardons’ five other horses were not in the stables, but out in the field, at the time of the fire but the loss of Ruben is enough to have ‘devastated’ the family.
Kerry said: “Our world came crashing down yesterday and it was only by pure chance that the other five horses were in the field that night and not in the stable, otherwise things could have been even worse.”
A joint investigation into the arson is being carried out by the police and fire service and Detective Constable Neil Hewitt said they are ‘determined’ to catch whoever is responsible for this tragedy.
He said: ““This is a tragic case in which a horse-loving family, who have spent considerable effort and money to build up their stable block to stable a number of their horses, have been left devastated by these callous actions.
“We are treating this fire as a deliberate act and are determined to identify the person or people responsible.”
DC Hewitt, who is based at Hazel Grove police station, also urged anyone who might have information related to this case to get in touch.
He said: “If anyone has any information as to who may be responsible, or if you saw anyone or anything in the Winnington Road area that didn’t seem quite right in the early hours of Tuesday morning, then I implore you to please get in touch with us.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact police in Stockport on 0161 856 9598, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
